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Author Topic: Action/puzzle elements...  (Read 2925 times)

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organican

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Action/puzzle elements...
« on: October 04, 2005, 01:57:55 AM »

I had an interesting idea for an action/puzzle/adventure hybrid, but I'm not sure if WME is the best engine for this job...

The thing is, this game would use an awful lot of collision detection, making, and changing objects.
It would make and handle maybe hundreds of objects on a single "level" or screen.

Just to give you an idea, picture a mix between monkey island, tetris and super Mario.

But the things I'm unsure of, is if WME is that good for creating and handling objects on a mass scale. It's really much better suited for games where the single objects are unique and adventure-esqe (one-of a kind).

To make a game where you get to have some puzzle action, and play around with a bunch of changable "tetris blocks" (no, not anything like tetris, but you get the idea)... that would probably require an engine that is suited for that kind of game play and system, all the way from the beginning.

So to do it would probably be like cutting down a tree with a swiss army knife. Sure, it can be done, but as they say: The right tool at the right place. Or something.

So maybe WME isn't the best engine for this particular idea, maybe I should stick with making adventure games with WME and do other things with some other programs...?

Note: This was just a simple question, I've had such an interesting game idea here that would be a waste not to realize. But there's no hurry, and I have lots of "pure" adventure game ideas that I'd just love to bring to life. So this is no critique of WME or anything (that it can't do every single genre out there) this was just a question about WME's limits in this particular field. So no bad feelings here, okay? :)

And I also have to say again... what an absolutely wonderful job you've done with WME.  ::thumbup ::rock

Best. Adventure Game Engine. Ever.
« Last Edit: October 04, 2005, 02:17:18 AM by organican »
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Mnemonic

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Re: Action/puzzle elements...
« Reply #1 on: October 04, 2005, 08:20:24 AM »

Generally speaking, you should be able to use WME for any kind of 2D game. There are two limitating factors: 1) performance 2) ease of use.

Performance depends almost exclusively on the amount of scripts executing in each frame. Jerrot's Weather God script is a model example of a script handling hundreds of objects. You can test the performace by changing the amount of snowlakes.

By ease of use I mean the comfort offered by scripting. Scripting languages are typically designed to make your life easier when programming not-so-complicated things. Once you start designing complex data structures and object interactions, some generic programming language is probably a better solution. I mean, you could probably script, say, a Fallout-like isometric view in WME, but it probably would be easier to do the back-end in C++ or a similar language.

In WME both of these issues can be to some extent eliminated by using plugins.

These are my general thoughts. But in the end, I guess it depends on the project type you'd like to create and on your personal preferences to decide if it's worth using WME for that kind of project or not.
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